


Breathe Me to Life

by randers1



Category: Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:21:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27598157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randers1/pseuds/randers1
Summary: Hailey's back and having a bit of trouble still staying within those lines. Thankfully, she has a good partner to help her out.
Relationships: Jay Halstead & Hailey Upton, Jay Halstead/Hailey Upton
Comments: 19
Kudos: 90





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a one shot but evidently I'm incapable of that so....  
> Huge thank you to PuckLuck28 for being a wonderful beta and cheerleader! :-)

“ ** _Why_** ” 

The voice was sharp and angry behind her. Hailey squared her shoulders and slowly closed her locker, turning around to face her partner. 

“Am I supposed to ask ‘why what?” She was stone faced. 

Jay turned fast and glanced out the door before shutting it and walked closer to her. 

“Don’t do that,” he condescended. “We both know what you just did in there and if Voight finds out—“ 

“He won’t,” she cut him off abruptly. “And if he does I’ll explain it, like I’ve done to you, _twice_ now.” 

“Yeah well you can bet if I’m not buying that bullshit story, that Voight won’t either.”

Her story was already prepared—she’d stood to leave and out of frustration had pushed too hard against the table. It had slid forward against Morgan. On paper, it would be fine. She knew better than to believe her boss would buy it but it would play on paper and that’s all that would matter.

Jay’s voice dropped to a hush. “Hailey, I’m serious—“ He stopped and rubbed both hands over his face, aggravated. “This isn’t gonna…. There’s no way that guy isn’t gonna tell anyone who’ll listen that you just shoved that table into his gut—“

“ _Jay._ I.don’t.care. And if you had let it play out, I guarantee we’d know where that kid is right now.” 

Blaming him for their lack of information was low but she was seething; Furious with the asshole who she _knew_ was keeping the girl’s location to himself, and with Jay for getting in the way of her getting that location. But not with herself. She was doing what needed to be done to find that girl. 

The little girl was missing from a carjacking turned murder scene and only hours in had already gotten their suspect. Getting him to talk though was proving increasingly frustrating since they didn’t have anything on him that would stick, and they didn’t have anything to offer. He just needed to come clean, but the chances of that happening because he felt like it were 0 to any negative number. 

So she’d let her frustration show, and mixed it with some venom along with the idea that the only thing this guy would respond to was his own pain.

She hadn’t done anything more than she’d done in the past; Maybe the table shove had been a bit more forceful, and she hadn’t been willing to pull it back despite seeing him struggle….but she _would have_ just as soon as he told them where 6 year old Lila Foster was. 

Hailey would swear he’d been about to give it up, had grown nauseated at his smirk after Jay jumped in front of her to yank the table back. The guy might have a line bruise from the edge of the table but it wasn’t as though he had internal bleeding from it. He lawyered up after that and after a fierce look to her partner, she’d stormed out of the interview room leaving Jay to call the patrolman for the escort and sign the paperwork. 

The rest of her shift was spent on her own down in the tech room scrolling through pod footage and traffic cams trying to track the car Morgan had taken off in. But just because there were cameras nearly everywhere in the city didn’t mean that they were all working. She ran her hands through her hair, her frustration level only rising.

Now, she just needed to get out of the district and try and clear her head, alone—a habit she seemed to have formed since coming back from New York. And which right now was proving difficult with Jay standing in front of her. 

“ _Come on_ , that’s not fair and you know it.” He was trying his best to keep his voice level and his words came out in a near hiss as a result. 

“I don’t care about ‘fair’ Jay, I care about finding that little girl.” She pushed her hair away from her forehead and back toward the ponytail that bunched the rest. 

“You should care,” his words came at her fast and he took a step closer, bending a bit to try and catch her eye. “And you should care about what exactly your job is here.” 

Her face bore her confusion at the remark but she pushed it away in favor of becoming defensive. “My _job_ is to find that girl and put away the asshole who butchered her family in front of her then took her.” She paused as she eyed him purposely. “But that doesn’t seem like it’s gonna happen tonight.” She continued to glare at his lack of response until out of nowhere her mad broke and she grimaced, realizing what she’d implied, and that if she hadn’t just crossed a line with him she’d come pretty damn close. 

It was the end of another tough day for her as she stepped around Jay and made her way out to her car then home to a hot shower and a tall glass of whiskey. 

She’d left the steam-filled bathroom, fingertips pruned and skin flushed red from the scalding water, and sat now at her kitchen island, a few sips of alcohol warming her from the inside as she turned her phone over repeatedly. 

_Just want to make sure you’re okay._

_Hey. You ever gonna talk to me again?_

The first text surprised her when she saw it, given how she’d left things with her partner in the locker room. There hadn't been many other texts between them so her surprise was deep. The second….she didn’t know how to feel. 

She’d been back for two weeks now—had arrived to no fanfare, not that she’d expected any, but the tension she felt with the team had been immediate and caught her off guard. Even with Jay. It seemed that whatever lightness they’d found between them while she’d been gone had evaporated the second she walked back into the bullpen, and she had absolutely no idea why. She’d taken her cue from him though, and kept her chin up, pushed down the feelings that she’d allowed to grow and deepen, and got back to work. With her partner. Full stop. 

She didn’t know what her team knew but they knew _something_. They were elite detectives, and her just taking some random opportunity to head to NYC to work for a task force that she’d never expressed any desire to join wasn’t going to play for long. Even the story about a loan out officer, while having a nugget of truth, still didn’t explain why someone from their high level of office would be tasked out. They were busy enough on a near constant basis to need all hands on-deck, not make due with one set less. 

She didn’t want to ask what they knew and they certainly weren’t asking her any questions. Maybe they would have if she’d given them a chance, but she’d turned down a few nights at Molly’s, and even a dinner from Trudy. If she found it hard to play pretend at work, she certainly didn’t want to do it after hours.

The only one who didn’t offer anything was Jay. It hurt at first, but like her feelings about him, she was getting good at getting back to pushing it down and away with ease.

If she had to choose what they learned though, she’d prefer that they found out about what had apparently been Voight’s last straw with her—the Gael incident. She’d rather live with her team knowing that she’d planted evidence, set up a no-so-innocent-just-very-smart player than know the part she’d played in the death of Dairus Walker. Neither one bothered her much per-se, but she knew which one would bother Kim, Adam, Kevin, and Jay.

Jay. Her thoughts always seemed to come back to him. So now she sat, turning the phone over and over in her hands, her mind tumbling along with it.

“No shit, that’s great! Where is she?” Will twisted around on his stool and scanned the room. 

“Easy there old man,” Jay chastised over the lip of his beer bottle. “You’re gonna strain something. And don’t bother. Hailey’s not here.” 

Will’s brow furrowed for a second. “K, first of all? I’ve been doing some yoga lately so my flexibility is—“ He completed the sentence with two thumbs up at which Jay scoffed. “And second, sorry I missed her. You should have let me know when you were out, I’d have come said hi, bought a ‘welcome back’ round.” 

Jay shook his head. “As nice as that would have been, I didn’t not invite you. There’s been nothing to invite you _to_.” 

“You lost me.” Will took a long pull from his beer and Jay did the same, swallowing it with a small scoff. 

“Welcome to the club.” 

“Uh oh, this sounds like a story.” He palmed the bar. “What’s up?”

“Nah, man. It isn’t, it’s just….” At Will’s concerned look Jay gave a mild eye roll. “I don’t know, things were fine and then she was gone. Just.” He snapped his fingers. “Voight gave us some bs story about a task force in NY—“

“She wasn’t really in NY?” Will swallowed his beer just before interrupting.

“No, she was, but the reason he gave was bs.”

Will shrugged. “So what does Hailey say?” He fixed his brother with a look that said he was an idiot. “C’mon, you’ve asked her, right? You guys have talked?”

Jay stretched his back and sighed as Will continued. “You guys have that… that whatever you call it” Will gestured, trying to come up with phrase.

Jay couldn’t help the small smile. “Thing. We have our thing.”

A mild eye roll from Will. “So weird, but yeah, that. That thing you have, you said she’s been back for a few weeks so….”

“It’s complicated, Will.” Jay drained the last of his beer and signaled to the bartender for another. “We just---we used to be in sync and now we’re….we’re just not. Work is good, we’re good there... But outside of that…”

It took everything Will had not to choke on the beer he was finishing. “There’s an ‘outside of that’? That’s new…” He smirked at his brother. “Not that I’m surprised.” His lifted his eyebrows.

“What’s that mean?”

“I’ve seen you look at her, man. And I’ve seen her look at you.”

Jay took the beer from the bartender and ignored his brother, shaking his head. After a long pull he turned toward Will. “You know you got like, _no_ street cred at all talking to me about anything having to do with….what you’re talking about.”

Will smirked, wise to the deflection. “Street cred? Yeah, never thought I had that.” He pointed repeatedly at Jay. “But you, man, you better talk to her. This is obviously bugging you, being on the outs—“

“We’re not on the outs.” Jay was quick to correct.

“Well you’re clearly not happy about wherever you _are_.” He pointed at Jay with his beer bottle.

“We’re just….I don’t know, man, it’s all messed up and... When she was in New York, we texted, talked like, all the time and it was never weird. It was really good.” He rubbed at his jaw.

“So what changed?” Will was proud of himself, he was learning some subtleties from his own sessions with Dr.Charles.

“She came back.”

“Shut the hell up,” Will scoffed. “That’s the most stupid thing that’s ever come out of your mouth—“ Another beer bottle point to his brother before Will took a sip. “And that’s saying something.” Jay just scowled at him and turned back toward the bar. “You should talk to her." Will smirked and condescended,"Take out your phone....you know how to do it...."then you can call her...or text her..." Will put his arms up in self defense at Jack's look but the face he was making remained.

Jay was ready to punch the shit eating grin off of his brother's face but to calm himself, instead closed his eyes, and pictured all the times he’d spent with Hailey, talking, drinking, working, watching her from across his desk, beside him in his truck or her jeep. It had always felt fine until it felt right and good, and they’d taken too many steps forward while she was gone to not scare him once she came back. And it seemed she’d felt the same since she’d backtracked with him before even stepping forward. 

He saw her every day at work and while he was certain their work partnership was solid, he missed her. Missed her smile, missed their talks, missed just being with her in the easy way they’d developed. He inhaled sharply. Him just having her as his partner, professionally, just didn't seem enough anymore.

"You're an ass," Jay told him as leaned over a bit and took the phone from his pocket. He tapped the corner of it against the bar a few times before unlocking it. He glanced at Will’s shit-eating smirk. “I’m only telling her that you’re still a jerk. Not that that’ll be news but….” He put his eyes back to the phone and breathed as he typed quickly.

_Just want to make sure you’re okay._

The ‘delivered’ message appeared directly beneath it but that was all. Radio silence. Groaning at himself for waiting so long to reach out when she’d been his best friend for how long now, he put the phone on vibrate and returned it to his pocket.

Barely 15 minutes later his beer was gone and he still hadn’t felt any movement from his phone. He sighed, stood, threw some cash on the bar, and scowled at his brother’s smirk. Now that the idea of talking to Hailey had been broached and he’d reached out, it was all he could think about. Sitting here wasn’t going to help anything. “Shut up Will.”

“Let me know how it goes,” he tipped the beer bottle in a mock cheers and just grinned at his brother. 

From his truck, he tried again. _Hey. You ever gonna talk to me again?_

_Delivered_

He leaned his head back against the headrest and thought about his next move. He knew she’d been pissed when she left work and so had he. He’d gone to Molly’s knowing she wouldn’t show and he could try and drink away some of his anger, his sadness. But then Will had shown up and talked actual sense.

Jay was back and ready to reclaim her as his partner in earnest. Whatever had happened before she’d gone, since she’d been back could be fixed. At least he had to try.

Before putting the truck in reverse he thought about where he’d head first. She hadn’t been at Molly’s. It was possible that she’d gone to the Skylark but he figured, if he knew her at all, she’d be holed up at home, hiding from the world as she’d been doing since she got back. He felt like a total ass for allowing her to do it for so long.

The texts had been a surprise. She hadn’t known what to say in return so allowed the words to live in her messages on their own. She’d run a hand through her hair and wished things could be like they'd been. If she knew her partner at all, she doubted the texts would be the last she’d hear of him tonight and she wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that.

She turned out the lights on the first floor in hopes that if Jay did turn up, the dark house would turn him around. 

She should have known better. 

The knocks came a bit later, quiet at first, then louder and more forceful. The calling of her name followed and her eyes closed tightly as she heard the turning of her spare key in the lock. She knew she could have moved, hidden upstairs, pretended to be asleep in her bed, but instead she sat frozen with air dried hair and a still nearly full glass of whiskey in front of her. 

His jacket appeared beside her drink, and he turned on the oven hood light before moving to fill his own glass. 

He sat beside her and neither spoke for a long moment. 

“What are you doing here, Jay?” She was locked up tight and his mouth twisted a bit with the sight. 

He sipped at his drink. “Ruzek and Kim found Lila Foster about 20 minutes ago. Kim rode with her to Med.” 

Hailey turned her head to look at him and nodded, exhaling slowly. “Is she—“ 

Jay cut her off, shaking his head. “She’s alive.” That’s all they would know until they got a report from the hospital. 

Hailey’s face didn’t soften but she nodded again. 

“Morgan?” Even saying the name of the guy she had interviewed earlier made her stomach twist. 

“Lila was able to ID him from a photo array. Ruze says he‘s already charged. Full freight.” 

Hailey swallowed hard, digesting the news, as she nodded slowly and took a drink from her glass. 

“That’s good,” she murmured. “That’s good.” 

It was quiet in the dim kitchen as they just sat together, quiet again. “Been awhile since we’ve done this.” His voice gently broke the silence again.

“Our thing,” he reminded her at her look. She nodded, she knew. She just wasn’t sure it was their thing anymore. “We need to get back to it.It's been too long, Hailey.” He took a quick sip from his glass. The question came next and his brow furrowed with concern as he asked it. “What’s going on with you?” 

She didn’t say anything but put her glass down, and hung her head, her elbows finding the island and her hands clenched through her hair. Him sitting beside her, acknowledging something that they’d had that had been missing, it helped her unlock herself, to let him in just a bit again.

Her answer was a raspy, whispered, “I don’t know.” 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you just need to talk things out with your partner.

Hailey’s admission surprised the both of them.

Jay because he hadn't been sure how his partner would react to him showing up tonight. He’d done it a million times before but never after a lack of communication. They’d never had a lack like this before. The fact that she had opened back up to him, like she’d been waiting for him, made him both embarrassed and proud. For right now he chose to focus on proud.

It surprised Hailey for a different reason. She hadn’t planned on being quite so open, so unguarded.

“ _I don’t know_.”

After the third word was out and she saw his lack of judgement, his willingness to listen, she remembered who she was beside. It had hurt, being shut out when she came back, but she knew it was a two-way street. She hadn’t fought it, nearly welcomed it—it was much easier than dealing with her feelings for him, the memories of the lightness they shared in near flirty texts and emails while she’d been gone. Easier than dealing with the conversation that she knew would come about why she had gone in the first place.

She wished she could have simply thought about Jay that night, been certain in his support of her, wished she had had the courage to call him, go to Molly’s, anything but stay home in the all too quiet. But that would have been too easy. Instead, despite her attempts to push it down and keep them away, her brain had retaliated and tortured her throughout the evening, playing past actions on a loop: Her laughing with Cam, his death, her conversation with the south side hustlers and finding Darius dead the next day, her lack of emotion over it (still) and her talk with Voight. Setting up Gael and watching the deal go down, still feeling nothing except the desire to feel good about it. Voight screaming, sweeping his desk contents to the floor. _Platt has your tickets_. And now today, the scrape of the table legs against the floor, the adrenaline rush as she pushed the table Hard, not letting it go despite feeling the push back of the table as Morgan struggled against it. And Jay. His jump in to pull the table, the look he gave her, her words to him. They’d played in order, out of order, fast and in slow motion. The only thing they wouldn’t do is stop. 

Until now as she felt the warmth on her shoulder. Then everything stopped. 

She picked up her head and looked to her right, saw and felt Jay’s hand as she looked in to the softness of his eyes. 

Her own were shining with unshed tears as she looked back down at her glass, lifted it and took a long sip. This was Jay, she reminded herself once again. Her safe place, safe person.

“I hate feeling like this,” The admission came at the cost of the few tears that she quickly wiped away. “Like everyone’s eyes are always on me, waiting me to make some kind of move but nothing's ever said. It’s all different—everything I say is wrong.” 

Jay took a deep breath as he removed his hand. Hailey’s admission troubled him. She’d been different, turned a corner since her CIs death. He’d watched her slowly become harder, not less compassionate but edgier without a doubt. He’d tried to call her on it but he knew his attempts were weak. She was always the one to reach out to him, he didn’t have the same experience or know how and he felt foolish the few times he’d fumbled through the basic ‘you good’ check-ins. Accepting her lies that she was fine was something he struggled with initially, then more so in her absence as he’d run through the what-ifs his brain conjured up. Maybe if he'd been there for her, been a better partner, things wouldn't have gone the way that they had. He knew he didn’t have the whole story but could put enough pieces together to make him feel like an ass for not having at least tried harder to reach her.

She grimaced as she reached for her drink. “Y’know what? Forget it.” She shook her head. “It’s over now right?” Another grimace and she felt the amber liquid burn down her throat. 

Jay was quiet for a moment, digesting what she’d said.

“Hailey. I can’t forget it. I’ll never forget it.” 

She looked over at him, her hair moving back and forth 

“Hey.” Jay smirked a bit as he moved her hair, and in doing so turned her back toward him. “Not to make this about me—“ 

Hailey scoffed with her own smirk as she appreciated his attempt to lighten things up. 

His hand covered hers. She stiffened for a second then relaxed, glancing up at him but not moving under the large, warm palm. 

“But I don’t think I take can you being gone again. To another task force, another unit…not seeing you every day, Hailey. I didn’t know that would be so hard.” 

The look she gave him left no doubt that she knew exactly what he was talking about. 

“This—whatever it is you’re going through, still going through, you gotta get it together. Talk to me, call someone if it’s not me--- but I want it to be me.” He whispered the last part. 

“Jay.” She whispered back, not sure what she wanted to say in return. Her smile was soft as she dipped her head down a bit, averting his honesty. Her tongue reached out and found the top of her lip. Her head swung toward him. “That’s….that’s really nice to hear.” Another smile and another “Really.”

Jay straightened up and groaned a bit, taking back his hand. “Why does it feel like there’s a ‘but’ coming?’

“Not a ‘but’” Hailey started, “But”.. She smirked lightly at his look. “ _However_ , I think I need to tell you something.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to say something sarcastic but he held back, feeling that whatever she was going to say wouldn’t lend itself to anything silly or lighthearted. So he furrowed his brow a bit, tried to stave off the worry that was creeping in, and listened. “Okay.”

“I got some mail the other day,” she slid off her stool and went to the refrigerator, taking a paper from under a magnet on the side. She held one side of the folded rectangle and lightly tapped the other side against her open palm. “Can’t decide if it came at the perfect time or the worst time but…” she flattened her lips as she walked back to him and slid the paper to him.

Jay didn’t want to look at it. Didn’t know what it was or who it was from but he knew he wasn’t going to like it. A deep breath in and he unfolded the heavily weighted paper and immediately saw the seal and the words Federal Bureau of Investigation embossed at the top. He folded it right back up.

“They want you.” He surmised, sliding it back toward her.

“There’s no way you read that that fast.”

“Didn’t have to.” Jay lifted his drink to his lips, “They’d be idiots not to offer you something.” He took his sip.

Hailey just watched him for a minute, trying to keep up with the different emotions that she was sure he had no idea were flickering over his face. The one that broke her was the one that was most evident. Disappointment.

She didn’t say anything, didn’t argue, confirm or deny. She turned her gaze back to her own drink and sipped.

“When do you have to let them know?” His voice was quiet as he worked out how far past two weeks notice she might give their boss.

“It said next Friday.”

“Mm,” he nodded. “That’s generous.”

Hailey swallowed. “It was. I mean, all of it was. The offer, the position….”

Jay leaned back, ire creeping in. He really didn’t want to hear any more and he closed his eyes.

“But they couldn't offer the one thing that I needed.” Jay opened his eyes and looked to her. “A good partner.”

He was both curious and cautious. “What are you saying, Hailey?”

She offered a humorless smile, cautious herself. “They could never give me what I have here.”

Jay waited a beat, his eyes steady on her, wanting to believe she was saying she was staying but not allowing himself to fully take it in until he heard the words from her.

“And what’s that?” His voice was low and his eyes never left her.

She met his eye and her smile quirked only to the left for a flash. “You.”

He didn’t say anything but didn’t break his gaze.

“I didn’t mean to make that weird,” she slid a finger up and down the condensation that had gathered on her glass, as she looked from it to him. “But Jay, I know you have my back. And the way I trust you….and you trust me…. you’re the best partner I’ve ever had.” Once again, she swung her head to see him through the curtain of her hair, unsure as to what exactly she was trying to say and how he might take it. “And I think…I think…that the way we work together… lots of cops have good partners, but you and me….I think what we have—how we work— it’s good. And I don’t want to lose that.”

Jay had felt the steady increase of his heart rate as she spoke, his own emotions tumbling over themselves, snowballing into one giant swell.

“Besides,” she tried to change the now serious mood with a slight smile. “This is my home. I’m Chicago. I don’t want to be anything else.”

She raised her glass to him.

“Copy that,” he whispered, clinking his glass to hers but not moving his eyes from her.

Hailey sipped at the last of her whiskey, her eyes catching Jay’s and her gaze held his. “Jay,” she whispered. “You’re staring.”

“I know.”

“You okay?”

“Pretty sure I am.” His small soft smile was in line with the tone of his voice. He was okay. More than okay. “Listen, if you really wanted that job, you know I’d be happy for you, right? Because you’d be great at it…but...”

“Yeah?” Hailey smiled and cocked her head to the side a bit.

“I know how this is gonna sound and I don’t really mean it like it will but—“

He was already starting to spin out a bit, looking for words, and Hailey offered him a Hail Mary. “Jay, spit it out.”

His eyes caught hers and she hoped the strong flush she felt wasn’t as obvious on her cheeks.

“When you were gone—I knew it would be strange, just even the thought of knowing you weren’t coming in every day, that your desk would be empty--we couldn't do this…” He gestured between them and shook his head. “But. I didn’t realize how much I was gonna _miss_ you. And not just working with you… _I missed you_.”

“Yeah,” Her smile grew to a grin. 

He quirked an eyebrow at her.

“Huh.” She continued, “Well. Probably not a secret but.” Another flattening of the lips. “I missed you too. Missed _you_.”

He smiled, feeling calm and happy and settled and peaceful all of a sudden. They were saying things but not, all while somehow still saying more than they ever had.

“So listen,” he started. “And tell me if I’m completely wrong here, but. If Kim or Ruze went out to some task force somewhere, the team would suffer, sure, but… It wouldn't be like it was without you. On the team. Or. It was harder without you.”

She nodded, hoping she was understanding what he was saying. But she was still a bit too skittish to let herself believe it could be what she thought. “We’ve been partners a long time,” she agreed softly. “It’s hard to work with someone else—“

“Hailey.” It was soft but so close to a warning. A reminder that she should know better, that that’s not what he meant.

She couldn’t help the flash of a smirk that crossed her face as she now knew that yeah, she really did know what he was saying. Nodding, she collected herself and assured him. “I know. And,” a quick bite of her lip. “You’re not wrong.”

They were left silent just looking at each other, the quiet both heavy and easy. Despite her glass being empty, Hailey stuck her finger in her glass to grab the last drop of liquid in it. She sucked the tip of her finger lightly, tasting the smoky sweetness. . The heaviness felt like it was dominating the ease, but like she should have known earlier that her darkened windows wouldn’t keep Jay out, she should have known that he’d help pull her out of this. “So what now?”

“Now?” He sighed and smiled. “We just made it weird, right?”

She shrugged a bit and smiled at him.

“So may as well go ahead-- make it really weird.” He reached to cup her jaw, Hailey leaning in to his open palm.

They met in the middle, stopping to look at each other before crossing this line from just partners to partners who knew the taste of each other’s lips and the feel of small and large palms and fingers roaming over clothing and feeling warmed skin.

The line was crossed easily as Hailey found herself knee to knee with Jay in the dim light of her kitchen after a horrible day. And the feel of his lips on hers, his darting tongue as tentative as her own, along with his hands pulling her closer as he held either side of her head erased it all.

When they separated, it was only by a few inches, Jay’s hand staying on her face, committing the feeling to memory under his skin.

“Weirdly? Not weird.” He smirked.

“Not at all.” Hailey’s eyes narrowed and leaned back in to her very welcoming partner.


End file.
